1/9: the end of my visit is sadly approaching

It has been an amazing month with the unexpected being the norm. Walked a few miles to dinner tonite, leaving early to allow plenty of time to find the unknown place. Was supposed to meet Naomi and MINALU (one of my guides three years ago in the south Omo. Something came up at the last minute so Naomi brought one of her friends instead of minalu.

I walked past what looked like an architecturally significant building that I have been past several times. Turns out to be the Ethiopian equivalent of the Holocaust museum, with a number of the exhibits clearly influenced by that edifice. The stories depicted in the exhibits were strikingly similar to many from the holocaust. It is called the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial. Hailie Selassie was overthrown (and ultimately murdered) by a rebellious socialist regime that ruled from 1964-1971, in fact I learned at dinner last night that the father of one of my neurosurgical colleagues, Zenebe, was killed by the communists during this reign of terror. This regime also terrorized the Jews leading to operation Solomon.

This will be a very busy week. I have a number of teaching sessions with the residents and am giving a lecture to the neurologists, neurosurgeons and their residents. In addition we have two days of meetings with a contingent coming from the medical school in Bergen, Norway. They have been funding scholarships for several residents each year to spend seven months in Norway. This arrangement is up for review and the staff here is quite nervous about it for several reasons. They really want this renewed as they otherwise have no funding to send residents abroad.

So far I have dinner plans 2 or 3 of my remaining four nights here, plus seeing patients in my apartment two nights. It will be hectic these last few days.